September 6, 2023: On Tuesday, Visa launched Stablecoin Settlement Capabilities on Solana.

According to Coin Metrics, Solana’s sol token was last higher by more than 5% at $20.50. Other cryptocurrencies were little changed, with bitcoin flowing below the flat line at $25,803.25 and ether up slightly at $1,640.06.

The move came after Visa revealed that it would introduce settlement of the USDC stablecoin over the Solana network. The payments giant said the story could help “improve the speed of cross-border settlement and provide a stylish option for our clients to send or receive funds from Visa’s treasury easily.”

Solana is one of several networks aiming to rival Ethereum. It’s loved among developers, who may build applications on it instead of Ethereum because of its rate and cost-effectiveness. Its year-to-date gain is one of the biggest in the crypto market at 101%.

The announcement follows the takeoff of PayPal’s company-branded stablecoin, PayPal USD. The group said the function of PayPal USD is to reduce friction for in-experience payments in virtual settings and allow direct flows to developers.

Visa has been experimenting with USDC, the second largest stablecoin in the market, since 2021, testing how it could be used inside its treasury functions to make currency conversion in cross-border payments shorter and cheaper.

Bernstein has called stablecoins the “monster killer app” for crypto, identifying them as a nearly $3 trillion market over the next five years.

“We expect major international financial and consumer platforms to issue co-branded stablecoins to power value exchange on their platforms,” Bernstein said. “Going ahead, we anticipate tokenized stablecoins to be a $2.8 trillion market, led by regulated, onshore stablecoins.”